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Sexual Health “Story Slam” to Highlight Underused HIV Prevention Pill

The William F. Ryan Community Health Network will host the “PrEP-ing for Sex Story Slam” at the historic Nuyorican Poets Café on E. Third Street, where storytellers will share three-minute prepared stories about their experiences with the HIV prevention drug PrEP or other prevention efforts. The organizer hopes the personal anecdotes will help normalize the discussion surrounding the drug among young people.

103-Pound Woman’s Shocking Medical Diagnosis

When Rachel Meyers went in for her regular checkup at the Ryan-NENA Community Health Center in the fall of 2014, she got a shock. There, Dr. Michelle Soto told Meyers that her blood-sugar levels were similar to those seen in “someone who’s obese — someone who’s 200 pounds.” An A1C test — a common blood test used to diagnose Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes — revealed that Meyers had a pre-diabetic blood-sugar level of 5.8. (5.6 or less is considered normal.) Meyers is “skinny fat” — a person who appears to be in great shape, but whose full health portrait tells an entirely different story.

Care Technician by Day, HIV/AIDS Fighter by Night

Despite early concerns that PrEP would encourage promiscuity and lessen condom use, promoting it has become a key part of a city and state program to “End the Epidemic” of HIV/AIDS, and is the centerpiece of the city’s “Play Sure” campaign. From a high of 15,000 new cases a year in the 1990s, New York State saw more than 3,000 cases of HIV diagnosed in 2013. This Crain’s New York article highlights the work that the Ryan Network has been doing in bars and clubs to educate patrons about pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Doctor’s embrace, knowledge of PrEP seen as obstacle to uptake.

Suggesting that medical providers may be an obstacle to the wider use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), panelists at a town hall noted that there is reluctance on the part of some doctors to prescribe the HIV prevention drug regimen.

Ryan Network Names Yonkers’ Swartz Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Jonathan A. Swartz, of Yonkers, has been appointed chief medical officer of the William F. Ryan Community Health Network, also known as the Ryan Network. Swartz most recently served as regional medical director of Montefiore Medical Group and has been affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center since 2000.

Healthcare administration veteran Brian McIndoe has been appointed President and CEO of the William F. Ryan Community Health Network. McIndoe served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Ryan Network for the past six years.